Is the use of ChatGPT eroding our intellect? A new MIT study revealed what happens to the brain with AIs
The study itself divided 54 participants - young people between the ages of 18 and 39 living in the Boston area - into three groups, and they were asked to write different SAT-type essays using ChatGPT.
People walk on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
A study conducted by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and published Tuesday yielded numerous results on whether the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT affected critical thinking skills, and suggested that the use of language models may end up being detrimental to learning, especially in the very young. While the study has not been fully peer-reviewed and the sample is somewhat small, its lead author, Nataliya Kosmyna, published her findings in order to alert to the risk to long-term cognitive development posed by the use of such tools.
The study itself divided 54 participants -young people between the ages of 18 and 39 living in the Boston area - into three groups, and they were asked to write different SAT-type essays making use of ChatGPT. One of them used the chatbot, the second the Google search engine, and the third no help at all. The researchers made use of an electroencephalogram (EEG) during the study to record the brain activity of the writers in 32 brain regions, obtaining as a result that, of the three groups, those who used ChatGPT not only showed a lower level of brain activity, but also "consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels". Likewise, the study detailed that those who used the chatbot became lazier as the months went by in each trial, constantly resorting to copy-and-paste toward the end of the study.
Lack of original thinking
In the MIT paper, it was also detailed that the group using the tool delivered essays that were very similar to each other, containing no original thought, by repeating both the same ideas and expressions. The EEGs also showed low activity in executive control and attentional focus, to the point where, by the third trial, several of the participants decided to have ChatGPT do almost all the work.
On the other hand, the group that typed without any help showed the greatest neural connectivity, especially in the delta, theta, and alpha bands, which are associated with semantic processing, memory load, and creativity. Likewise, the group that only made use of Google showed similar results. The study researchers also determined that these two groups were much more engaged, curious, and reported higher degrees of satisfaction with their writing on tests.
ChatGPT could improve learning
While those who originally used the AI showed considerably weaker alpha and theta brainwaves, suggesting that deep memory processes were not activated, the other two groups performed very well and even showed a significant increase in brain connectivity at each of the EEG frequencies. According to the researchers, such a situation might suggest that, used correctly, such AI could significantly enhance learning rather than impair it.
LATEST
